It can be said that hydrated solids in waste waters resist combination with other ionic particles so as to stabilize the suspension because of at least two major factors. First, each hydrated ion is surrounded by a cluster of water molecules forming a protective physical shell or barrier around the ion so as to prevent its direct contact and marriage with other ions. Secondly, the polar water molecules surrounding the ions establish what can be termed an electrical double layer that produces electrical potentials acting as barriers to the close approach of other particles.
I have found as disclosed in several of my prior patents that by exposing the suspension to an electric field without electrical current flow, the polar water molecules tend to align themselves and to thereby lose their affinity for the ions which they encircle, hence making it easier for the ions to come into physical contact with one another and unite so as to cuase the formation of floc.
It has also been pointed out in my prior patents that when an electrostatic treater of this type is utilized upstream from an electrolytic treater such that the waste water being treated is exposed first to the electrostatic treater and thence to the electrolytic treater, coagulation and flocculation is further promoted without causing plating out of materials on the electrodes of the electrolytic treater.